�At some point, there would simply be no point.�
"Still Alice" is a beautiful and thought-provoking book about the terrible disease that is Alzheimer'�At some point, there would simply be no point.�
"Still Alice" is a beautiful and thought-provoking book about the terrible disease that is Alzheimer's. It is a book about losing yourself, piece by piece, and watching all of your memories, all of your words and all of your loved ones slowly slip away. It is heartbreaking.
In this book, Genova asks a bunch of very interesting questions. Mostly she writes, and asks, about identity - what it consists of, and whether or not your memories determine who you are. In a speech Alice declares, that she believes her identity lies in her soul - and not in her brain, but the question is left open for yourself to decide and discuss.
While this book is both important and deeply touching, it is also lacking something. Genova never does seem to decide which perspective she wants to write from and whose story she wishes to tell. She jumps conveniently around - sometimes she's inside Alice's head, and sometimes she reveals things as seen from the outside. As a result, the novel loses a bit of its power. (view spoiler)[Genova also skates too easily past serious topics such as suicide and will-power. Alice wanted to commit suicide, but is unable to go through with it, as she conveniently forgets where she put her pills. I perfectly understand why Genova wants to avoid killing off her character - but the solution just feels too easy. The book ends with a rosy picture of family and love - which is perhaps a bit too romanticized. At least it seemed so to me. (hide spoiler)]
All in all, I do regard this as a beautifully moving book, and I'm happy that I've read it. I'm just sad that it didn't touch me as much as I had expected it to. ...more
I will never be able to look at a pigeon the same way again. After reading this book a pigeon will always be associated with chaos, loss of identity aI will never be able to look at a pigeon the same way again. After reading this book a pigeon will always be associated with chaos, loss of identity and anxiety. A pigeon will remain the symbol of paranoia. That is how convincing Süskind writes. This very short book (or novella?) explores what happens when a perfectly organized individual is confronted with something utterly unexpected. It can be seen as a study in comformity or repressed terrors.
"The Pigeon" tells of only one single day in Jonathan Noel's life - and yet it tells you everything you need to know. ...more
�What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?�
It's been three years and yet I still remember the exact feeling this b�What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?�
It's been three years and yet I still remember the exact feeling this book left me with. I had read "Middlemarch" in connection with an exam and I found it quite trying. For weeks and weeks I buried my eyes in this book, without seeming to get anywhere with it. I was bored and I couldn't concentrate; I regarded my reading as a hideous duty rather than something joyful. That was, until I reached the last 400 pages and I devoured them in a few hours. The book cheated me in a way I had never seen coming. If it wasn't for my exam I probably wouldn't have finished it, I would have disregarded it, and as a consequence I would have lost something very valuable. The book ended up meaning the world to me, and as I read the final words on the final page, I actually cried. I didn't cry because the ending was sad or aggravating, I cried because the ending existed at all. I simply cried because I wanted more.
That's how powerful it was.
Ever since I finished reading the book for the first time, I have longed to read it a second time. But as it is a rather large book and my shelves are spilling over with unread books I haven't found the time to reread it, until now. And I'm so glad I finally did it, because this is a book that deserves to be read over and over and over again. It only gets better. This time I could marvel at the details in the slow beginning of the novel. I could lose myself in the characters, laugh at Eliot's graceful irony and admire the scenery, the complexity of the ever touching lives of an entire city.
�Explain my preference! I never had a preference for her, any more than I have a preference for breathing. No woman exists by the side of her.�
The foreword told me that Eliot began the novel as two separate ideas. She had written ten chapters about the fatal marriage of Dorothea Brooke and then abandoned it, when she began writing an entirely new story about an ambitious doctor, a man called Tertius Lydgate. There was no connection between the two fragments until several years later, when Eliot decided to weave their lives together and to create a broad landscape for them to interact in. The novel was expanded until it implicated an entire city and had several main characters running through the pages. However, Dorothea Brooke always remained the heroine, while Lydgate became the tragic hero. The interesting thing is how similar Dorothea and Lydgate actually are. They are reflections of one another; idealistic, ambitious and blinded creatures, lead astray by practicalities and influenced by their surroundings. In her last words, Eliot seems to reflect upon how easily idealism and good intentions can be misshapen by the wrong society.
Idealism is a huge part of this novel. It flows through the pages as a vital life forces, constantly dooming and redeeming its characters. Bad things happen to good people because of it, just as in real life. Eliot is even more realistic than Austen in that aspect.
�Certainly the determining acts of her life were not ideally beautiful. They were the mixed result of young and novel impulse struggling amidst the conditions of an imperfect social state, in which great feelings will often take the aspect of error, and great faith the aspect of illusion.�
"Middlemarch" is subtitled "A Study of Provincial Life", and that is exactly what it is. With a multitude of characters, interlocking fates and a grand scope, the novel sweeps through different landscapes, homes and minds. From the poor farmer Caleb Garth to the gambling Reverend Farebrother to the vain Rosamund Vincy and the aging and jealous Mr. Causabon, the novel allows a deep understand of the provincial life and its class structure. The broad movement is never superficial or shallow, every character is an intricate work of art; deeply complex and never just two-dimensional. Nothing is simplified, no one is neglected.
I have never read a novel as skillful and beautifully done as "Middlemarch". It is an obvious masterpiece, the most awe-inspiring English novel ever written. Reading it a second time only increased my admiration for George Eliot and her beautiful language, her sense of human nature and contrasting lives.
I am left with the exact same feeling as I had three years ago upon finishing this masterpiece; a certain feeling of emptiness that only dedicated booklovers will know and recognize. A feeling that will ensure my return to Middlemarch again and again, for the rest of my life.
And that's why this is a favorite book of mine; I will never be done with it....more
It is common knowledge that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. However I do not think you should judge it by its author either.
I simply just adIt is common knowledge that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. However I do not think you should judge it by its author either.
I simply just adored this book. When I first began reading it I was forced to finish; I had absolutely no choice in the matter. It was mesmerizing and not at all what I had expected. JKR demonstrates a breath-taking ability to illustrate and describe her characters, from every possible angle. No character in this book is truly good nor truly bad; they're just humans, blinded by prejudice and personal flaws. The psychological value in this book was utterly fascinating to me.
I enjoyed following the various plots, and I loved the ending where everything joined together in a complete whole. So many different perspectives and aspects of the same story gave me a lot to think about.
This is by no means a "feel-good-read", but it is an elegant and relevant book about politics, ethics and people. Consequently I think JKR has proven herself capable of writing to adults as well as children and teenagers. It may not be what I expected; but one should never underestimate the value of a good surprise. ...more
Loading...
